Every six weeks, we host our global new hires in our Boston office to give them a chance to see our headquarters and meet with other new XuKeepers. Each group consists of about 15-20 employees from all around the globe – the US, EU, APAC and India. Our two-day program introduces our new hires to the organization—new XuKeepers get to meet with the executive team, eat lunch with our founders and get acquainted with our platform and our industry.

Read on to meet a few of our new hires, learn about their time at New Hire Experience (NHE) and discover how our unique onboarding program helps make DataXu successful as a global organization.

The new XuKeepers:

Mike Shaw, Vice President of European Sales, located in LondonSteph Flynn, Customer Success Manager, located in BostonLee Malcolm, Ad Operations Specialist, located in London

Tell us about your overall experience during your orientation to DataXu:

Flynn: New hire orientation came at the perfect time for me when I was starting at DataXu. I had a chance to meet with a ton of people from different teams prior to NHE, but my time spent at NHE really allowed me to begin connecting the dots of how all the different teams work together. It was also great to be able to meet all the new hires from our other international offices. NHE is a unique experience, as I had never worked at a company before that tried so hard to connect all their new people on a global level. I loved learning about the people from the different offices, and the experiences the other hires had so far.

Malcolm: Overall, the experience was great; it was interesting and compelling to see the headquarters while getting to know employees I’ve already had the pleasure of working with. I really enjoyed putting the names to faces formally and informally. It was nice to get a front row seat in understanding some of the challenges and opportunities the company and teams are facing.

Shaw: The onboarding training was incredibly valuable because a few key components were addressed up front; we had a great agenda in advance, we got exposure to the company leadership to understand the big picture and finally we got to meet a number of the key salespeople who are already selling DataXu solutions and can accelerate the new hire’s development exponentially.

From your perspective, what is the importance of meeting people in person?

Shaw: Meeting people in person is valuable and vital. By meeting with people and understanding their perspectives, we can maximize the power of working together. As companies grow, there is inevitably going to be more processes and more collaboration. However, when there are more people, we’re able to leverage each other’s talents and experience to get the best results. As a leader, it’s important to meet with my teams in person and understand their strengths, so that I can shape our priorities and initiatives.

Flynn: It’s important to meet people in person because it allows you to get to know one another and to collaborate on different projects throughout NHE. One of my favorite activities we did was to write an Elevator Pitch about DataXu regarding what our company does and represents. We all had different thoughts and ideas, but we had the chance to combine them into one piece of writing.

Malcolm: It helps build better relationships, and allows for more comfortable interactions. Sometimes, email interaction can only go so far and it’s easier to gain someone’s trust after meeting with them in person.

How do you form networks across a global company?

Shaw: It’s important to think globally and act locally. Across global teams, there are so many different aspects of the ways we’re doing business. For example, we aren’t just facing variables such as pricing, contract terms or the GDPR. We’re also focusing on market positioning across the different countries. In order to improve decision making as a leader across our international business, it’s important for me to build trusting, transparent relationships so I can devolve autonomy and empower my team to make the strongest decisions.

Flynn: To form networks across a global company, it is important to take the time to chat about your day-to-day and allow people to get an understanding of your core function at a company. It is also important to ask the others specific questions about their work-day and what projects they are currently working on. By doing this, it is easy to find commonalities with one another which can allow people to help one another. Making connections based on obstacles you have faced can allow you to get other perspectives that can help you come to a solution as well.

Malcolm: It helps better interactions between teams, and the flow of communication is much better!

From a work perspective, how does in-person onboarding help you lead and perform in your day-to-day? And what do you try to accomplish when you visit other sites?

Shaw: It’s helpful to meet other XuKeepers in person to understand their positioning and the different challenges we are facing in different locations. This gives us the best chance to make the right decisions for that particular market.

Malcolm: Getting to know your international counterparts and relating to the challenges they are facing is a great way to work through problems together. It’s important to understand that nature of their challenges in order to come to a resolution.

What are some creative ways that you’ve stayed in touch with other employees you met during NHE?

Flynn: Great ways to stay in touch with those you have met during NHE include sending out email updates about your time at DataXu/projects that you’re working on, or maybe sending out an article that relates to something you chatted about with others during that time.

Shaw: Maintaining relationships is just as important as creating them. Given the speed of the industry, the more I can trust and empower my team, the faster and more innovative and more customer obsessed we can be—the faster we can grow.

Quote from Christie Burke, our People Strategy Representative who facilitates the NHE program:

What I find to be special about the New Hire Experience program at DataXu is every six weeks, regardless of what office location you are in, we run the program and our new employees travel from across the globe to attend the session at our headquarters in Boston. It’s fun to look around the room during each session to see new employees from Sydney, Bengaluru, Berlin, San Francisco, etc. it’s also an opportunity for everyone to experience DataXu headquarters and meet all of their coworkers in person that they interact with daily and expand their DataXu network.

If I had to use one word to describe the New Hire Experience program, it would be collaboration. The organization as a whole plays a huge part in making this program successful and we all want each new employee to have the best onboarding experience possible. The program itself is a day and a half of jam packed interactive sessions. To give you a preview, these include a Welcome to DataXu section with a member of our exec team, Founders Lunch where all of our founders come and tell their stories of DataXu from the very beginning to where we are today, a scavenger hunt to meet with at least one person from each department in Boston, a demo of our Platform and many more.